Berenstein Bears Movie

[frogboy4]

Berenstain Bears to make big-screen debut​

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Berenstain Bears are heading to the big screen.

Walden Media, the family-friendly studio behind the "Narnia" feature franchise, has picked up the movie rights to the classic children's book series. Shawn Levy, the director of the "Night at the Museum" movies, is on board as a producer.

The aim is to make a comedy that will mix live action with computer-generated characters.

Created by Stan and Jan Berenstain in 1962, "Bears" follows a family of bears living in a place called Bear Country, with the books' goal of helping kids deal with life issues ranging from bullying to a mother's pregnancy.

Some 250 titles have sold a combined 260 million copies. Several NBC specials were produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s as well as two animated series.

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I suppose this is intended to compete with the Yogi movie in the works. Discuss...​

 

[Drtooth]

Walden Media, the family-friendly studio behind the "Narnia" feature franchise, has picked up the movie rights to the classic children's book series. Shawn Levy, the director of the "Night at the Museum" movies, is on board as a producer.

I was all set to get excited until the Walden Media part. Really I was.

How would this work? Hmm? CGI Characters in a live action setting. The entire world of the Berenstain Bears is anthropomorphic animals... if they even think of adding humans, they took a huge poo on the source material from the start.

Honestly, I think a BB movie would benefit from being ALL CGI... or better yet, traditional, Disney-esque hand dranw animation. And I guess there's no chance of having Brian Cummings and Ruth Buzzi play Papa and Mama.... actually, John Goodman would make a good Papa Bear... (Brian Cummings apparently does recast work for Goodman for the Monsters Inc video game and the Emperor's New Groove video game and TV series)

But I just don't see how this could work unless it was an all CGI bear cast. Shades of Underdog and Garfield seem to creep up.

 

[frogboy4]

I was all set to get excited until the Walden Media part. Really I was.

How would this work? Hmm? CGI Characters in a live action setting. The entire world of the Berenstain Bears is anthropomorphic animals... if they even think of adding humans, they took a huge poo on the source material from the start.

Honestly, I think a BB movie would benefit from being ALL CGI... or better yet, traditional, Disney-esque hand dranw animation. And I guess there's no chance of having Brian Cummings and Ruth Buzzi play Papa and Mama.... actually, John Goodman would make a good Papa Bear... (Brian Cummings apparently does recast work for Goodman for the Monsters Inc video game and the Emperor's New Groove video game and TV series)

But I just don't see how this could work unless it was an all CGI bear cast. Shades of Underdog and Garfield seem to creep up.

I see many poop jokes in this film's future. I really hope not. but the pitch makes it seems like the Berenstein's meet the Klumps.

 

[Drtooth]

Ugh... i wanna hear what the plug was, and yet I don't...

You know, this and the conversation we're having about Wild Things makes me wonder... are they starting to try to make more children's books movies to see if they can become the next Shrek? I don't think they can get this movie to work any way that integrates humans into it, myself.... but I have the sneaky suspicion that they want to.

That said, I LOVED the original Hanna Barbera produced cartoon (it was their Austrailian Studio, by the way... same people that did the animated segments of CBS Storybreak) and I would love to see the movie made in that style and tone. I sort of liked the 2003 Nelvana series... but I found it was too gentle and too quiet. I mean in the HB version, there was an episode where Boss Weasel actually tried to kill Papa Bear and his family while they were in a balloon. And they actually went on adventures that had mild peril in them, and they met crazy cartoonish characters like Big Paw Bear, Raffish Ralph and the like. And the episodes were actually written (to my best knowledge) by Stan and Jan... The other one seemed a little more down to Earth, but they really didn't adapt books as closely as the first series did either... I really hated what they did with "The Bad Dream." Whereas the book had a subtle stab at 1980's catoon and toy culture (Brother plays with Space Grizzlies and wants to go see their movie... a clear mashup of Transformers and Masters of the Universe)... where as the show dealt with a corny sci-fi space show and Sister just being afraid of the villain. We didn't even get to see her dream.

I also wonder if they're going to put Honey Bear in there at all... the new Baby character they created years back.

 

[Gelfling Girl]

Great...more CGI.

 

[frogboy4]

I don't see technology being the real problem as much as a usual distraction from good filmmaking. CG and 3D these days are used as gimmicks rather than storytelling devices.

The formula these days seems to be (in this order):
1. secure the rights to an iconic property+
2. use computer animation and/or 3D technology+
3. create a eye-popping trailer+
4. fill in the script with pop culture references=
5. cynical movie sludge

Edit - and don't forget to punctuate the release with a soundtrack of forgettable tween pop artists.

 

[Drtooth]

Edit - and don't forget to punctuate the release with a soundtrack of forgettable tween pop artists.

Or obvious songs about the subject matter... i.e. dog movies with "Atomic Dog" (poor George Clinton... his funkadelic style is wasted here) and "Who Let the Dogs out"

not to mention the whole peppering the script with tiresome one liners made specifically to cut together for a trailer.

Here's another thing that comes to mind when we're talking a Berenstain Bears movie.... it isn't one book... it's a series of many different books. I have rarely seen a movie based off of a general line of books get made. TV series, yeah... Mr. Men, Arthur, Clifford... etc. That is for the exception of Curious George and Clifford... though the Clifford movie was based entirely off the PBS animated series. And both were traditionally animated. I, of course, don't count Harry Potter, it's a series of movies based off a series of books (plus it isn't a picture book, like the ones I'm talking about). So we're not even guaranteed a retelling or remake here... I think they might just make up a new story or a generalization of what happens in the first few books...

These usually turn out to be origin movies... I could see them combining "The Big Move" and "The New Baby" into a single film (about the birth of Sister, not of Honey).

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Yeah! I LOVE The Berenstain Bears! It will be great to see a movie version- I just hope it's done well and done right. I guess we'll see. I like the idea of an origin movie with "New Baby" and "The Big Move"- that would be cool.